


His Last Hope

by ImJustACat (07Izie)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Badass Rey, Dark, Emperor Kylo Ren, Empress Rey, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Not Related, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 05:48:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15550995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/07Izie/pseuds/ImJustACat
Summary: Inspired by the opening premise of Son of Darkness by blueenvelopes935She plugged in her command code and her hand rested upon the control switch. She inhaled and pushed down. The engines flared behind her and she knew no more.A great clarion call swept across the ship and in that moment the sabre was rend in two. The universe and the Force quaked around them as they were forcibly drawn across the room from each other.Destruction littered the space around the huge flagship as both the Resistance and the First Order fleets were decimated. A small transport ship moved away from the Supremacy, its survival ensured by the Admiral’s sacrifice.Rey loses consciousness after the battle in the throneroom of the Supremacy. Kylo takes her back aboard his ship as a new initiate of the Knights of Ren. Of course she didn't exactly agree to this...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Son of Darkness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13984671) by [blueenvelopes935](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueenvelopes935/pseuds/blueenvelopes935). 



> Hi, this my first fan-fic so be kind!
> 
> I am a huge follower of Reylo and I've always thought about writing my own fic but I've never really had the time! (#phdlife) But now I'm writing up and finding distractions everywhere I thought why not make writing fan-fic one of them too!! Expect plenty of Reylo tropes!
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, nor am I making any money from this fanfiction.

“Don’t do this, Ben. Please don’t go this way.” She pleaded. Fire falls like rain in the broken room around them.

“No. No—you’re _still holding on_. Let go!” A dark pause follows. “Do you want to know the truth about your parents? Or have you always known?” He offers. 

Rey’s face crumbled. How could she have been so stupid as to see the light of Ben Solo behind the truth of Kylo Ren’s darkness? His words cut like barbs.

“You’ve just hidden it away…” He approached slowly, and her eyes pleaded. “You know the truth. Say it. Say it—”

“…They were nobody” Rey admits a truth to him that she has not even admitted to herself yet.

“They were filthy junk traders… Who sold you off for drinking money.” A sob breaks free from her. No, she would not cry before him. The bond shudders around his words as the pain Rey feels is mirrored back at her by his disappointment.

“They’re dead. In a pauper’s grave, in a junkheap desert. You have no place in this story.” This rings false in the Force when he says it. “You come from nothing. You’re nothing… But not to me.” 

The remains of the red Praetorian guard surrounded them. The huge viewscreen that dominateed the wall of the palace-room showed the great celestial battle taking place beyond it. Debris and pieces of the destruction littered the space around the Supremacy.

“Join me.” His gloved hand reaches. Hope sparks across the bond and the Force stills in anticipation. It seems the galaxy comes down to this very moment and the fates hold their collective breath.  
“Please…” He whispers, an echo of pain across his face. He has known abandonment before.

Rey’s heart twists. This is Kylo Ren. The man who destroyed the fragile peace his family had tried to restore to the galaxy. Sworn enemy of the Resistance. And yet she feels a pull to him. The bond remains despite the demise of its creator. What did it all mean? Was this the will of the Force?

In a moment her hand mirrors his to reach out. Did she really have any control in this moment? It seemed as though it was the will of the Force that forced her hand to reach. 

Rey came to her senses. She was the Light and a Jedi of the Resistance, and he was definitely Dark. The fate of the galaxy would be decided in that moment and Rey knew she could not let Dark win out over Light. She wielded the Force to pull the forgotten sabre towards her hand.

In the last moment, Kylo matched her movement to yank the sabre back from her. It existed between them, suspended in equal motion. Both equally matched in power in the Force, they strained for control. “Rey, you know this is the work of the Force. You must join me—I will teach you!”

“No B—Kylo. This is always the way of the Skywalkers. You leave the Force in ruins behind you, and the rest of the galaxy suffers along with it!” 

\----------

A battle continued away from this one. The last vestiges of the Resistance pulled away from their spent ship in a small transport vessel. Remaining on the bridge, Admiral Holdo sat back in her seat and braced herself aboard the Resistance flagship. The onboard computer beeped in warning. _Hyperspace Flight Plan Obstructed_.

She plugged in her command code and her hand rested upon the control switch. She inhaled and pushed down. The engines flared behind her and she knew no more.

\----------

A great clarion call swept across the ship and in that moment the sabre was rend in two. The universe and the Force quaked around them as they were forcibly drawn across the room from each other.  
Destruction littered the space around the huge flagship as both the Resistance and the First Order fleets were decimated. A small transport ship moved away from the Supremacy, its survival ensured by the Admiral’s sacrifice.

In the throne room of the Supremacy a piece of one of the vast metal spires supporting Snoke’s chamber fractured and fell between them. A shard collapsed upon Rey, sharply catching the side of her head.

Kylo felt her side of the bond numb and fade as she lost consciousness. He stumbled towards her, all thought of their fight lost in his inexplicable panic. By now the entire ship was tilting and whole periphery sections of the Supremacy were crumbling away into space. The huge stone dais behind Snoke’s throne fell from its supports and crushed Snoke’s body where it rested.

Kylo reached Rey’s prone form and bent to gather her in his black-clad arms. He could feel her life in the Force, pulsing steadily through their bond. She was not dying, merely unconscious, but he could feel her strength in the Force was considerably diminished. She had probably never exerted herself in the Force in such a way before, given her poor training, if it could be called that at all, that Skywalker had given her. 

At that moment, Hux blundered in the throne room, a squadron of stormtroopers at his back. His eyes widened as he took in the destruction before him.

”The Supreme Leader—"

“Is dead.” Kylo Ren’s voice loudly proclaimed. 

A greyish, withered arm could be seen stretched beyond the crushed ruins of his throne. Disgust painted Hux’s drawn features. Not a hair was out of place on his coiffed façade.  
“No…” 

Kylo could see his mind working, calculating. His mouth opened, then closed firmly, his eyes moving down to take in the girl that Kylo carried in his arms.  
“Ren. What are you—”

“Emperor Ren.” Hux felt a pressure enclose his collared neck. His eyes widened as he tried to take a breath and found he couldn’t.  
“What—” He rasped out.

“Our beloved Supreme Leader had just finished initiating my new apprentice into the Knights of Ren when his life was cruelly ended by the scourge upon our galaxy that is the Resistance.” Kylo announced in a booming voice so Hux and the entire squadron of nervously shifting stormtroopers behind him could hear.

The pressure released from Hux’s throat and he took a shaky breath.

“Of course… Emperor Ren…” He reluctantly offered.

“Give the order for the evacuation of the Supremacy, General Hux.” Kylo strode past him, Rey still unconscious in his arms. She was so light.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not sure what the update schedule will look like for this fic, but I will try and update at least once a week.
> 
> Enjoy and please leave comments! :)

Chapter 2

As awareness found her, a soft light was present behind her closed eyes. An aseptic, medical odour was the next thing she registered. Rey opened her eyes and struggled to sit upright. A quiet beeping began on the small monitor beside her bed. Everything in the room was white and sharp edges. 

Murmured voices grew in volume as two pairs of footsteps approached the door of the white room.

An older woman wearing a First Order medical uniform with flecks of grey in her hair stepped through the door. She was closely followed by a man dressed in officers clothing. Behind them Rey caught a glimpse of two stormtroopers stationed outside the room before the doors swept closed. The woman approached Rey’s bed and checked the monitor to her side.

Rey’s eyes darted around the room, looking for the torture devices and restraining harnesses she had encountered on her last stay with the First Order. She saw none, but also could not see her lightsabre anywhere.

“What… Where am I?” Her voice sounded like gravel with apparent disuse. She pulled herself off the bed and stumbled weakly to place it between herself and the strangers. She was wearing only a thin medical gown and her hair was loose down her back.

The woman eyed the officer in black behind her nervously and cleared her throat.

“Lady Rey, you are in the medical suite aboard the Finaliser.” Rey’s eyes widened with her choice of prefix. “You were injured in the Resistance attack to the Supremacy.”

Rey reached out with the Force and felt the truth in her words. She reached further outwards, outside the little white room, to feel the lifeforce around her in the way Luke had shown her on the meditating rock at Ahch-To. She felt a pull in the bond that had been dormant between her and Kylo Ren.

He knew she was awake. She could feel his presence nearby like a dark cloud and he was getting closer.

“I am Healer Febris and this is Lieutenant Mitaka.” She indicated the stiff officer behind her. 

At that moment the doors of the white room slid apart again and Kylo Ren swept through them. Instantly Febris and Mitaka moved back, barely concealed fear on the face of the Healer.

“Your excellency—” Mitaka started.

“You will leave us.” Kylo Ren announced in a muffled tone from behind his mask, with a sweep of his hand. Rey felt the Force pull with his words as he pushed his intent into them. Without a word both Febris and Mitaka departed.

Kylo Ren stalked towards her. She frowned and took in his unchanged black robes, the cross-guard lightsabre at his hip and the metallic mask on his face.

“Still hiding behind that mask I see, Ren.” She bit out. This was as an unusual execution as she had ever seen. Why bother healing her if he was just going to force-choke her or throw force lightning at her? Maybe he wanted to best her in lightsabre battle? She certainly wasn’t feeling up to that.

To her surprise, Kylo reached up and pulled the mask away from his face. It released with a low hiss and he placed on the white table beside her bed. His face was unchanged, the scars she had given him on Starkiller still prominent. How long had she been here?

“You’ve been unconscious for two weeks.” He stated plainly.

“How—” How had he known what she meant to ask?

“You need to learn to silence your thoughts in the bond. You’re very loud.” He could sense her mistrust and fear of her surroundings through her half of the bond as well.

An awkward silence fell over the room as they surveyed each other.

“What will happen to me now?” Rey whispered quietly. In the moments after the sabre had split and in the aftermath of the battle above Crait she had taken stock of her surroundings. She knew the outlook did not look good for the survival of her friends in the Resistance after the battle.

“You will join me as my apprentice, Rey.” His voice did not plead like it had last time, but his expression had warped into one of awful hope. “I am the Emperor now and I will bring balance to the Force. There is no longer any Resistance to return to.”

“No! No…” Rey shook her head and backed further from the bed. Her face twisted, and her heart stung with despair. The Force shifted and whorled around her heartbreak. “Finn… Leia…”

“My mo—… That woman… Is gone now.” He snarled, and the Dark shifted across their bond. “I felt it in the Force…”

Even without searching in the Force, Rey knew this to be true. It felt as though there was a gap in the Force that the General had once occupied. The balance had shifted and tipped even further towards the Dark. The Light side dwindled to only herself and Luke, wherever he was.

“They attempted to escape aboard a freighter ship from the battle. When the Finaliser re-joined the wreckage of the Supremacy we obliterated their remaining forces.”

The room grew smaller around her in her panic. Rey could feel herself losing control as she faced off from her enemy, as weak as ever. 

“Scavenger, you will either join me at my side in my new Empire, or you will see yourself become my enemy and my prisoner.” Kylo stood taller as she fell back in her anguish. His expression became angry and his eyes glowed yellow as he shifted in the stark lighting of the room. The bond was cloying now, Darkness emanating from him, almost suffocating her own emotions. She felt the Dark stir within herself, the pain and anger becoming almost too much to bear. 

And then he left her there, sweeping from the room, taking his overbearing Darkness with him and leaving her to her despair. She wrapped what she could of the Light side around her and tried to find peace.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey tries to get settled and Mitaka is a little annoying.

Chapter 3

 

After Kylo had left her room in the medical wing the day she awoke, she had been brought back to her bed by the kind-faced Healer Febris. The Healer had explained how Rey had been in a Bacta tank for ten days to heal her head injuries after the battle on the Supremacy, and a further three she had spent out of the tank unconscious. During this, Kylo Ren had obviously been busy establishing his new ruling order. 

In the first two days after Kylo’s visit, Rey remained bedbound as the Healers tried to heal her some of her older injuries from a lifetime spent scavenging. Her pronounced malnutrition and poor diet were put to right with an odd protein concoction supplied by one of the many hovering caregiving droids that bobbed from room to room along the medical ward. The ward was obviously nearly at capacity with the numerous injuries sustained by stormtroopers and personnel aboard the Supremacy, yet she kept her quiet, white room all to herself. 

During her time recovering, the bond between herself and Kylo remained dulled but occasionally she caught flashes of him addressing what must have been his new government, or practising sparring stances. Each time he became aware of her presence, he stopped what he was doing to face her. They do not speak but the emotions that flood the bond do that for them. On Rey’s side there is hurt and disappointment simmering beneath a very un-Lightside anger directed at Kylo and the First Order. On Kylo’s there is frustration at her and her stubbornness. Each time it is Rey that cuts their impromptu meetings in the Force short. She refuses to feel anything other than distain towards Kylo Ren. 

Staff continued to refer to her as ‘Lady Rey’ despite her many protests. A small holonet screen she hadn’t noticed on the day she woke was all she had to keep her thoughts from turning dark and despairing. When she did switch the screen on, the news networks were all full of the First Order’s spokespeople reporting on the ‘tragic loss of our great leader’. Footage showed First Order faithfuls falling over themselves to cry in anguish at the huge state funeral of the departed Supreme Leader. “A great war crime perpetrated by the villainous Resistance terrorist faction…” When they weren’t reporting on the funerals of Snoke and the numerous other First Order top brass that had died on the Supremacy, they were discussing their new Emperor. Kylo had obviously had a large presence on the holonet before as a lightsabre-wielding Darksider “bringing order and justice, for the First Order agenda”, but it seemed nobody knew much about the man behind the mask. Kylo had kept his mask in place for his huge televised state address after Snoke’s funeral, so his true face was still an unknown to everyone not in the upper echelons of the First Order’s ruling elite. 

On her second day of consciousness in the medical suite aboard the Finaliser, Lieutenant Mitaka returned to resume the conversation he hadn’t had a chance to start before had Kylo arrived.

“My Lady.” He gave her a short snap of a bow that made her cringe and frown. “I am instructed by the Emperor to take you to your new quarters.” 

“I’d like to leave. I don’t want any quarters.” She protested, a tad petulantly. 

Mitaka was a short man, not much older than herself. Where she knew Hux had a look of permanent distaste staining his features, this officer looked perpetually anxious. With angry Darksiders like Snoke and Kylo as masters, both of which known for a habit of using their mysterious Force-powers to inflict pain on their subordinates, she could hardly say she was surprised. At her protests, he began to look even more anxious, breaking into a nervous sweat.

“My Lady, the Emperor has told me to take you to your quarters and see that they are satisfactory. He said nothing about allowing you to depart the Finaliser.” He was beginning to sound a little desperate.

She took pity on him, Kylo would probably kill the poor man if she did try to leave at this point, and sighed. She stepped off her bed and indicated that she would come with him. Mitaka moved to the door and took a swathe of black fabric from one of the stormtroopers standing behind it.

“For you to wear. Over your…” He gestured at the thin hospital gown she was still wearing. She shook the material out and found it to be a heavy hooded black cloak that reached the floor when she acquiesced and placed it over her garments.

“How very First Order.” Rey grumbled to herself. Mitaka didn’t seem to notice.

They moved past the door and out along the main corridor of the medical ward, the pair of stormtroopers that had remained (or she assumed it was the same ones) outside her room the last few days followed them closely. As they moved across the ship, Rey gathered the cloak around herself, trying to shield herself from the many curious stares they received. It was clear that Mitaka had tried to take them on a less busy but less direct route as they did not pass many people. The further through the ship they moved, and upwards, as that seemed to be the general direction they were going in, the less busy the corridors were. There also appeared to be fewer stormtroopers and more uniformed officers in these further parts. Rey began to wonder just how big the ship was. She was sure that they had to be taking her to the brig.

Eventually they reached a well-guarded corridor, with at least eight stormtroopers posted at the entry doors. It was wider than the other corridors they had traversed and had no more than six doors along it. Mitaka took her to the second door on the left-hand side of the corridor and pressed a code into the sentry computer.

“The code is 8-5-2-2-0-1.”

Rey was confused. Why would Mitaka be telling her the access code to her new prison cell?

The doors swept open and a large open room with several rooms coming off it was revealed. It didn’t much look like a prison cell either. She must have looked confused because Mitaka wringed his hands anxiously.

“My Lady, if it is not to your liking maybe I can find another—”

“Why would Kylo Ren care if I liked my new prison cell?” She retorted. 

Mitaka looked confused. “My Lady, you are Kylo Ren’s new apprentice, are you not? You are one of the Knights of Ren?”

Rey didn’t say anything. Her thoughts were loud and confused, and maybe it was that that opened the bond to Kylo Ren in that moment. He appeared before her while Mitaka continued to jabber on about the sonic shower and her new wardrobe.

“Rey.” He looked surprised to see her in that moment. “I see you have found your new quarters.”

She was about to question him about her apparent lack of a reserved prison cell aboard the Finaliser’s brig when she noticed his attire, or partial lack thereof. He was wearing those high-waisted training trousers he had worn before, when he had appeared to her in their strange Force-connection on Ahch-To.

She spluttered and looked away, blushing like last time. He seemed to register his appearance and stood a little more squarely.

“Rey—I wasn’t expecting…” He looked oddly abashed, though she could not see it, looking away as she was.

On impulse, she cut their connection though the bond again and fought to put up the mental walls she had been practising erecting in the last few days.  
Mitaka was still flustering on, having not apparently noticed Rey’s momentary distraction.

“Yes, I think this will do just fine actually. Thanks.” She announced loudly and Mitaka paused in his sales pitch to look back at Rey, who had not moved from the entryway. Relief washed over his features and he swiftly moved back to door.

“Let me know if you need anything, Lady Rey. Day or night, I can have it brought to you. There are servant droids within your quarters, of course, but sometimes the human touch can—” 

“Thank you.” She said from behind gritted teeth, her earlier embarrassment not remotely forgotten. She pressed the door key to her side and the door swiftly closed, cutting off the end of Mitaka’s nervous rambling.

She let out a long breath and looked around. Why had seeing Kylo Ren again made her feel so flustered? A small voice in her head told her that it probably wasn’t seeing _him_ that had been the problem, but what he had or hadn’t been wearing. She coloured again just from the thought.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey goes for a walk and finds trouble.

Chapter 4

 

Rey’s room was large and well-furnished, but in an understated, utilitarian way. To her utter annoyance the wardrobe that Mitaka had been blathering on about before she cut him off was completely impractical. She wondered wistfully what they had done with her old leggings and dusty tunic. Probably burnt them. Instead what she had to contend with here were long wispy day dresses and stiff, structured formal gowns. Everything was of course in First Order-approved colours, so there was nothing beyond AT-AT grey, Empire black or First Order red. That first night she slept in a loose silk nightgown that she felt a little ridiculous in. The hospital gown she had arrived in had mysteriously disappeared after her first attempt at using the sonic shower. She didn’t dare go near the large gilded bathtub yet.

After her first three days of self-imposed exile in her new room she began to feel a little stir-crazy. Above all else, she felt complete and utter loneliness. Though she hadn’t known the Resistance all that long, she had begun to feel like finally these might be the people she could maybe call home. Finn with his friendly hopefulness. Leia with her stern but motherly nature. Chewie with all his stories of the crazy Resistance adventures that he and Han had lived in their bygone days. Han could have been the father she never knew… But of course Kylo Ren had taken that all away.

On Jakku she had depended on herself to survive the numerous dangers a place like that could offer. She had never known the parents that had apparently left her behind for the promise of a few credits and a next drink. She couldn’t bring herself to hate them.

On the morning of the third day she pulled on what was perhaps the least ridiculous day dress to be found in her new wardrobe. She thought she had seen old holonet footage of the now extinct senators of the Old Republic wearing similar garb. It was long and sweeping in a floaty red organza fabric. It was largely free of the intricate detailing all of the other dresses seemed to have, but by no means plain looking as it was definitely the most ornate thing she had ever worn in her life. Rey huffed her annoyance and threw the black hooded cloak she had brought with her from the medical suite over it. She dragged her hair into a low bun at the nape of her neck with a length of leather twine that she had repurposed from the lacing of one of the other gowns and slipped her feet into some entirely impractical velvet beaded slippers.

Rey pressed the control panel to open the wide sweeping doors of her quarters onto the sparse corridor she remembered and strode along its length, her ridiculous dress billowing behind her. The guards at the end of the corridor snapped to attention when she passed them, but they offered her no resistance. Two of the guard fell into step behind her, forming a protective guard at her back. She did not protest them there and they did not attempt to subdue her, so she continued on.

She didn’t know where she was going, but she had to be somewhere other than that stifling room, alone with her thoughts. As she moved across the ship, the stares that had followed her when she left the medical ward seemed to be nothing in comparison to the stares she garnered now. The red dress she had picked out was in stark contrast to the black uniforms of the officers and gleaming white of the stormtroopers. She reached out in the Force and felt only curiosity, interest and small underlying fear in their collective minds. Did they not know who she was? Did they not know she was their enemy and the last remains of the now extinct Resistance? She bitterly wondered.

Her wandering took her onto what was evidently a command level of the Finaliser. A concentration of bustling officers traversed this level, all moving from one station to the next. She stopped short of the wide entryway that clearly lead onto the main bridge of the entire starship. She could sense Kylo Ren there, both in the Force and in the increased focus around their bond-tether. He hadn’t noticed her yet, busy attending to something or other.

In that moment, a sharp snapping of fast-paced officers boots approached her and stopped short of her small party of troopers. Rey looked back from the direction she knew Kylo could be found and found herself staring up at the stiff face of General Hux. He cleared his throat and frowned down at her. She reached out in the Force and found him oddly muted. He didn’t give away much in the Force and she found it difficult to get a read on him or his thoughts. Rey supposed this was probably how he had lasted so long surrounded by powerful Darksiders like Snoke or Kylo.

“You.” He bit out. “You’re that scavenger he saved on the Supremacy.”

“What—” Rey started.

“Don’t even try and deny it. I know your face, even with all that finery he has put you in.” He glanced down at her robes and dress with obvious distain.

By now, the other officers on the command deck had begun to look on at their conversation with interest. Rey’s face coloured as she felt Hux’s sneer on her.

Suddenly the bond sparked with interest and she felt Kylo’s attention centre on her in the Force. She sensed him striding the length of the bridge and out onto the main deck corridor. The entire corridor of previously onlooking officers rapidly pitched into activity as they bustled away, trying to look busy as the Emperor approached.

“Hux.” Kylo snarled behind his mask, addressing the weasel-faced General with undisguised anger in his voice.

“Emperor.” Hux rallied with contempt. “I was just getting reacquainted with the scavenger here. I am interested to see why she is away from the brig in such finery and with such a paltry escort.” He glanced behind her at the two stiff stormtroopers at her back.

“That is Lady Rey, my apprentice and new initiate of the Knights of Ren you are addressing, Hux.” Kylo cautioned. 

Rey looked on at the exchange numbly. What was going on? Why had Kylo referred to her as a Knight of Ren? She hadn’t even agreed to be his apprentice, let alone an initiate. She sensed Kylo along the bond and felt his words push into her mind.

_Go along with it._

Rey looked down, her mind working and churning her present options. She remained silent and did not dispute Kylo’s statement. Meanwhile, Kylo and Hux stood glowering across the corridor from each other, Rey stood uncomfortably between them.

At that moment, a square jawed blonde haired man in black robes like Kylo’s moved into the periphery of Rey’s field of vision. 

“Emperor Ren.” All three of them turned to face the man. There was obviously still no love lost between these two, despite Kylo’s now enhanced station. Hux looked on in annoyance at the interruption.

“Knight Nestor.” Kylo addressed the newcomer.

“My Lord, we have arrived in orbit at Coruscant. The fleet is awaiting your instructions.”

General Hux turned to quietly speak to one of the many hovering aides behind him. The aide hurried off along the corridor and out of sight.

Kylo turned back towards the bridge and strode away with Knight Nestor following closely at his side. Rey stood uncertainly in the corridor, conscious of Hux still glancing at her as he barked out instructions to the remainder of the aides behind him. At the last moment Kylo stopped in his tracks and looked at Rey.

“Rey.” The word was obviously meant as a command to go to him. Seeing little other option, Rey and her small escort made their way along the corridor to the wide entryway onto the bridge. 

When Rey stepped out into the wide space, dominated by the huge wall display, she felt a little overwhelmed and out of place. She was used to seeing starship bridges, sure, but those were all echoey relics on the long-abandoned battlefields of Jakku. This bridge was very much alive. Officers bustled along the wide upper gangway and lower ranking personnel worked busily in the sunken workstations below. An overall sense of ordered chaos dominated the entire space.

Kylo stood with the Knight at the furthest end of the gangway, looking directly down at the central display. At either side of him, in the shadows, a small group of men garbed in the same robes as Kylo and the other Knight stood waiting. Rey felt a sense of déjà vu in the Force as she observed these men stood together like this. These were the men she had seen in her Force vision, fighting in the downpour, sabres alight. These were Kylo’s Knights of Ren.

Behind them, on the viewscreen, a blue planet veined with the bright lights of civilisation was clear. This was the core ecumenopolis and the ruling seat of the entire galaxy.

“Begin the incursion.” Kylo ordered the bridge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rey's red dress  
> https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/550846598152558492/?lp=true
> 
> Rey's black cape  
> https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/505599495651971427/


End file.
